There was a good deal amount of history made in golf on Sunday. At Cherry Hills, Nick Dunlap became the only male player other than Tiger Woods to win a US Junior Amateur and a US Amateur. A fellow named Dan Brown recorded his first DP World Tour win. Alexa Pano did the same on the LPGA and Ladies European Tour event at Galgorm Castle — on her birthday. And at Olympia Fields, Viktor Hovland shot a course-record 61, including an epic back-nine 28, to claim the BMW Championship.

But it was also there that arguably the most boring PGA Tour record was broken. We’ll forgive you for not noticing what Brendon Todd did over four days at Olympia Fields. Because, well, not many people noticed. Todd shot four-over to finish T-41 in the 50-man field. But the way he arrived at that score caused one man — Todd’s swing coach Bradley Hughes — to be curious.

You see, Todd made a whopping 64 pars over 72 holes to go along with six bogeys and just two birdies. Hughes wondered if that was the most pars ever recorded in a PGA Tour event, and, not surprisingly, stats guru Justin Ray delivered the answer.

Brendon Todd made 64 pars this week at the BMW Championship (2 birdies, 6 bogeys).

It's the most pars for any player in a 72-hole PGA Tour event over the last 40 seasons. https://t.co/qucpReNMIt

— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) August 21, 2023

That’s a lot of pars. And, well, that’s about all we can say about the mark. Hey, we told you it was a boring stat.

Anyway, congrats(?) to Brendon. Of course, if he ever did that in a US Open at Oakmont, everyone would probably be a bit more excited.

The post Brendon Todd just broke the most boring PGA Tour record imaginable at BMW Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Right?

Two hours and 13 minutes later, at 6pm, Burns rolled in a 38-foot downhill putt from off the green, watched his friend and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler narrowly miss a similar prayer and won the whole thing.

Unbelievably clutch.@SamBurns66 drained the 38-footer from off the green to win @CSChallengeFW. pic.twitter.com/DaQmWt5MRe

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 29, 2022

How did it happen? How did the 25-year-old Louisiana native tie the largest comeback in this venerable tournament’s history? Well, you can define the strange events of Sunday at Colonial either positively — by what Sam Burns did — or negatively, but by what everyone else failed to do.

Let’s start with Burns, who came out scorching on a sunny but windy day in Fort Worth, on a course that he had visited as a child when his mentor David Toms won in 2011. Burns’ major adjustment at Colonial this year was to play more aggressively by hitting more drivers on a Perry Maxwell track that known in recent years for taking the driver out of players’ hands.

It worked. Burns’ opening nine was a birdie fusillade, one after another, starting with a seven-footer on the first hole. On the second, he drove 350 yards, hit his short pitch to 10 feet and buried the putt. Indeed, everything seemed to be working early. A brief bogey hiccup on the fifth hole was the only break in a stretch of six birdies culminating with a nine-footer on the ninth to come into the turn at 30.

Birdie
Birdie
Par
Birdie
Bogey
Birdie
Birdie@SamBurns66 is racking up birdies early. He's 3 back. pic.twitter.com/NESQwOrHtk

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 29, 2022

The mid-range birdie putts continued to fall on 11, but an errant drive on 12, which he bemoaned in his post-round interview, led to his second bogey of the day and halted his momentum in its tracks. He wouldn’t make another birdie, though he came within inches on almost every hole. Insofar as a 65 can be “disappointing” in any way at all, it was a disappointing finish considering his red-hot start.

“I thought I needed to make that putt on 18 in regulation to get to 10,” he said later, “and to be honest I thought I did make it. I hit a really good putt and just missed barely low.”

At that point, the tournament was up for grabs. Harold Varner III, Davis Riley, Brendon Todd and Scheffler, the 54-hole leader, had found their way to 10-under, by various means, and the trophy was there for the seizing. Instead, gravity reached for and caught them all, one by one, as nerves and the difficult conditions made their mission increasingly impossible.

“I can assure you I did not envy them while they were out there playing,” Burns said. “It didn’t feel like it was blowing any less than we were out there, it was just one of those things when you finally finish, you’re just ready to be done.”

Varner, perhaps unsurprisingly, was the first to take his hat out of the ring. He’s long had trouble playing in tense situations close to the lead on Sunday, and this was an exaggerated version of all his worst moments. A three-hole stretch starting on 12 was almost unspeakably poor, resulting in a triple bogey, a double bogey, and another triple (and a fair amount of 757 jokes on Twitter). This torpedoed his chances, and two more disastrous holes to close left him with a head-scratching 45 on the back nine. He finished even par for the tournament, in a tie for 27th place, and a whole slew of questions about how to fix his pressure performances.

Riley was next to go, and though his fall wasn’t as dramatic as Varner’s, it was equally decisive — a bogey on 13 after a missed four-footer for par and a double-bogey on 14 after the first out-of-bounds drive anyone hit on the hole all week ushered him from the dizzying heights and down to a safer part of the leaderboard.

That left the final pairing of Todd and Scheffler, the former falling to eight-under after bogeys on 11 and 12. Todd couldn’t escape that number despite a strong effort in the closing stretch. This narrow birdie miss on 16 was particularly galling after a seemingly perfect read:

Brendon Todd to tie the lead … pic.twitter.com/jo07Zy8NPo

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 29, 2022

Like Burns, Todd couldn’t make anything happen on the back nine despite a few close calls, and when his approach shot found the bunker on 18, he was effectively eliminated.

“This is my favourite course on tour,” said Todd after his one-over 71 left him in solo third. “It’s a place I feel like I can contend, and I’ve done that again. It’s tough, because I feel like if I had just a couple things go my way today, I would have been the clear winner.”

With everyone around him blowing over, the tournament seemed to be Scheffler’s to seize, and after his many wins this season — four in his last nine starts, culminating at the Masters — there was no question of the pressure affecting him. As Burns would say later, “the way that guy is playing right now, who would have ever thought that you’d have a chance seven back?”

Scheffler and Burns are good friends off the course, taking a little of the sting away from Scheffler falling short on Sunday at Colonial.

And yet, after a 66-65-68 start to the tournament, Scheffler somehow put together a round of zero birdies when simply shooting even par would have been enough to win by two shots. Strange as it sounds, Scheffler was actually fortunate to hang tough at nine-under as his day wound to a close, sinking par putts of nine feet, eight feet and six feet on three of the last four holes to narrowly eke his way into a playoff. A triumph at Colonial would have given him five PGA Tour wins on the season, making him one of just six players to accomplish that feat since 1981.

Instead, in the playoff with Burns (and with his sister-in-law’s wedding to attend Sunday night), Scheffler watched his “best friend on tour” knock in the improbable putt and take the championship from his grasp.

For his troubles, Burns pocketed his fourth PGA Tour win in the last 13 months, $1.512 million, and a fully restored 1979 Pontiac Firebird. And the quote of the day came in his post-round press conference, when a reporter asked Burns a simple question:

“Are you a car guy?”

“I am now,” he said.

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The post What a gritty, grindy playoff win says about Sam Burns at Charles Schwab Challenge appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Daniel Rapaport
CHARLOTTE — Brendon Todd has withdrawn from the Wells Fargo Championship after testing positive for COVID-19, the PGA Tour announced Tuesday morning. He will be replaced in the field by J.J. Spaun.

The news comes one week after four players tested positive and were thus forced to pull out of the Valspar Championship: Tyrrell Hatton, Sepp Straka, Will Gordon and Brice Garnett. All four players played in the previous week’s Zurich Classic in New Orleans.

Todd, No. 57 in the World Ranking, has made 11 of his last 12 cuts but has not recorded a top-10 thus far in 2021. He won in back-to-back starts in the fall of 2019, a remarkable turnaround from a profound slump that saw him drop outside the top 2,000 in the World Ranking in 2018.

Last month, the tour informed members that fully vaccinated players would no longer be required to conduct on-site testing in order to be eligible for an event. Additionally, the tour will stop offering on-site testing in June, which would require non-vaccinated players—and any non-vaccinated person who wishes to enter their “bubble,” including coaches and spouses—to obtain a negative test within 72 hours of arriving on site, with the cost of the test coming out of their own pocket.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has stopped short of saying he’d require players to be vaccinated, but the tour has provided educational information to players with the goal of encouraging them to become inoculated.

“I think as players become vaccinated, as our constituents become vaccinated, we’re hopeful that everybody will,” Monahan said at the Players Championship in March.

The post Brendon Todd tests positive for COVID-19, withdraws from Wells Fargo Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
Ever since winning the Bermuda Championship last year, Brendon Todd has proven to be one of the more consistent players on the PGA Tour. He added a victory the following week at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, nearly won again the following week at the RSM, and has since made 11 of 14 cuts with five top 20s in that span.

Todd’s form seemed to finally take a dip at the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek, where he opened with a 77, his worst score since the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational last March. That day, he and the rest of the field had an excuse: brutal wind and equally brutal course conditions. The same could not be said for the opening round at Shadow Creek, which featured pristine course conditions and perfect-scoring weather in the desert.

But Todd had an even more legitimate excuse for the uncharacteristic 77 in Las Vegas. Two days before the tournament, he suffered an extremely painful injury that he didn’t reveal until Wednesday at the Bermuda Championship.

“The only thing holding me back is I fractured my left big toe the Tuesday before the CJ Cup,” Todd told reporters. “I was in the gym at my country club and just had a weight slip off the rack, 45-pounder landed on my toe so it fractured it. It hurt really bad, so I was kind of 50/50 if I was going to go to CJ Cup, but I went because I wanted to play Shadow Creek, I wanted to get going. I had taken three weeks off. I could walk without pain, I just hadn’t really played any rounds yet. I kind of had to work my way through it during the week, and by the end of the week it felt like I was hitting it pretty normal.”

Cripes. That sounds like a much more serious problem than Todd made it out to be, but he powered through anyway. Who says golfers aren’t athletes?

Fortunately, Todd says he’s almost back to 100 percent, and the only thing the injury really affects his long game, which is not all that important at Port Royal, one of the shortest courses on tour.

“Felt like I played pretty solid last week. I might be losing a couple yards off the tee or something, but for the most part everything feels pretty good.”

The post Brendon Todd reveals how he recently fractured his toe, and it sounds extremely painful appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
Jason Day and Brendon Todd no doubt slept comfortably on Thursday night, the pair sharing the first-round lead after opening-round 65s at the 102nd PGA Championship. Given the highs and lows both golfers have experienced in their games in recent years, grabbing the Day 1 lead in a major is no small feat.

Interestingly enough, given his solid record in major championships (one win, 15 top 10s), Day’s opening 65 was the lowest score he’s shot in the first round of a major, eclipsing his 66 in the first round of the Open Championship at St. Andrews in 2015. It also marked the eight straight year that the 32-year-old Aussie has posted a sub-par score in the first round of the PGA, the longest active streak in the championship.

As for Todd, whose career renaissance during the 2019-’20 season has been one of golf’s most heartwarming stories, this is the first time that the 35-year-old has ever held a first-round lead in a PGA Tour event, let alone a major championship.

That’s not to say they don’t have work to do at TPC Harding Park over the course of the next few days. Indeed, there are two stats that should keep the pair from getting too cocky about where they stand.

Since 2000, only four golfers who held a share of or had the outright Day 1 lead at the PGA have gone on to claim the Wanamaker Trophy: Tiger Woods in 2000, Phil Mickelson in 2005, Jimmy Walker in 2016, Brooks Koepka in 2019. Meanwhile, in 31 PGA Tour events in the 2019-’20 season, only three first-round leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win, most recently Collin Morikawa at the Workday Charity Open.

The post Two stats to keep Day 1 leaders Jason Day and Brendon Todd from getting cocky appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
One year and change. That was the length of the wait time between major championships. It was an … hmmm, what’s the word we’re looking for … unprecedented. That’s it, an unprecedented duration between majors. Glad somebody finally had the guts to break out that word.

Was the wait worth it? Well, let’s see—the action was fast and furious, the best players played well, Tiger Woods played well, and a number of former major winners who went through serious slumps thrust themselves into the mix out of nowhere. Does that sound worth it to you?

Below, you’ll find our attempts to sum it all up the best we could. Here are our five takeaways from Day 1 of the 2020 PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park.

RELATED: Day 1 of the PGA Championship summed up in 27 tweets

Is it 2015 again?
If you stay off social media, a). Good for you. Your life is definitely way, way better than the rest of us idiots scrolling through this crap every day; and b). You probably don’t know about one of the funnier “memes” in the game. It’s from the film “Jumanji,” when Robin Williams’ character exits the game and looks incredibly dishevelled. He has no idea where he is or what day it is, and he simply says “WHAT YEAR IS IT?” to convey his feelings.

This would be a perfect way to describe the first-round leader board, on which Jason Day is tied for the lead at five-under with Brendon Todd, and Martin Kaymer and Zach Johnson are among the group that is one back. What year is it? 2015, apparently.

Actually, the trio of Day, Kaymer and Johnson looked like their 2015 selves on Thursday at TPC Harding Park. Day, who won the PGA in 2015 and climbed to No. 1 in the world a few weeks after, was bogey-free, much of that thanks to a stellar approach game, an area that was lacking at the beginning of the restart. But he’s steadily improved with his irons over his last three starts, and he capitalized by collecting three straight top 7s. The scary part? He putted just fine on Thursday. If the flat stick gets hot, we really could see a glimpse of the old Day this week.

“I’m not like excited — I shouldn’t say I’m not excited,” said Day. “I am excited to come out and play every day, but I know that I can improve, and mainly my putting can improve a little bit more.”

Then there’s Kaymer and Johnson, who each threatened to tie Day at five under at one point during their rounds. Kaymer bogeyed his final hole, Johnson his second-to-last, but both scores held up to finish the day in a tie for second. Kaymer’s last top 10 in a major came at the 2016 PGA Championship, Johnson’s at the 2016 U.S. Open. Two years prior, Kaymer blitzed the field in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst. In 2015, Johnson held on to win the Open Championship in a three-way playoff, which Day missed out on by a shot. Both have fallen well out of the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking, making their appearance at the top of the board legitimately shocking on Thursday morning.

It’s still very early. But for one day in San Francisco, it felt like old times.

Jamie Squire

Imagine not enjoying the Brooks-Bryson back-and-forth?
Well, right now, it’s just Brooks Koepka doing the talking, but both are letting their play do the talking as well. A week after Koepka was caught on camera jabbing Bryson over his fire ant routine, he got in a number of extra right and left hooks on Thursday. The first came in his post-round interview, when, after shooting a four-under 66, he said there’s “no reason to get all scientific” when asked about the state of his game after going through a bit of a rough patch. The second came in a pre-taped ESPN segment, when players were asked what they eat for breakfast. Koepka’s response was definitely, totally not a shot at Bryson in any way. Not a chance.

TROLL GAWD AGAIN pic.twitter.com/Hye6wd6WLj

— Trent (@BarstoolTrent) August 6, 2020

As Koepka said in that new Nike ad, you can’t out-troll a troll. He’s officially an expert, and as serious as he seems with some of it, it’s still somewhat good-natured. It’s okay to make jokes, to have a little fun. Everybody should lighten up. Golf should be more fun.

NOPE. Naturally, the haters on social media are out in full force. The takes have ranged from “it’s getting weird” to “Brooks should just shut up” to “Brooks is obsessed with Bryson.” It’s amazing, first people say golf is boring, these guys are all blah and they all give packaged answers to everything and have zero personality. The second they show an ounce of it, they are told to pipe down and fall back in line. 2020, and the internet, at its absolute finest.

Harry How

Encouraging stuff from Tiger Woods
Hand up: I was very worried about Woods this week. The lack of reps, the reports of cold weather, the juicy rough. It all seemed to add up to an early exit for the 15-time major champion. It’s just one round, but man, I’m happy to be wrong. He looked pretty damn good, finishing with a two-under 68, his best opening round in a major since the 2012 Open Championship. He worked it both ways, he made some long putts, he saved par when he needed to, and he absolutely cranked it off the tee, ranking fifth in the field in driving distance at round’s end. Historically speaking, Woods has ’em right where he wants ‘em. He’s never been one to come out guns blazing in a major, rather biding his time and making his move on Friday and Saturday. I speak for the entire golf world when I say let’s hope that’s exactly what happens this week, because there is nothing better than Tiger in the mix on Sunday at a major, even if this Sunday won’t feature any Tiger roars.

RELATED: Bryson DeChambeau snapped his driver and the golf world lost its mind

Tom Pennington

Are you kidding me, Brendon Todd?
What’s there left to say about this guy that hasn’t already been said? His ability to consistently go low, even after a few crushing Sundays, is both admirable and inspiring, and it should come as no surprise given everything he’s been through. He throws away the Travelers Championship on Sunday and responds by getting right back into contention a few weeks later at a WGC. Of course, he sort of threw that one away too. His response? Tying Day for the lead with a five-under 65 in just his second major since 2015, mind you.

I have no idea how Todd’s story ends this week. He might win, he might tie for 56th or he might miss the cut. Whatever happens, he has reached an absolutely insane level of heat check. We’re talking J.R. Smith heat check. Todd is shooting a three every time he comes down the floor and he’s making them at a very high percentage. Terrible analogy? I don’t care. Brendon Todd is breaking my brain.

Jamie Squire

Friday is a big day at the office for some
As good as the first few pages of the leader board are, they’re missing some rather popular names: Rory McIlroy (E), Tommy Fleetwood (E), Jon Rahm (E), Justin Thomas (+1), Phil Mickelson (+2), Patrick Cantlay (+3), Jordan Spieth (+3), Rickie Fowler (+3). For the boys at even, it should only take an under-par round on Friday to make the weekend, though some of those guys didn’t just come to make the weekend. As for the rest of the group, Friday is going to need to be an aggressive, fire-at-the-flag affair. As it stands, +1 would get in, but it will more than likely move to even par, meaning Spieth, Cantlay and Fowler are going to need something in the 65-66 range. Would hate to lose any of these guys for Saturday and Sunday.

The post Is it 2015 again? Plus four other takeaways from Day 1 at TPC Harding Park appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Stephen Hennessey
What’s that you say, you didn’t spend 12 hours in front of a television watching every shot from TPC Harding Park? Worry not: We did, and we’re here to catch you up on the day’s most important storylines. Yes, you probably heard Bryson DeChambeau snapped his driver, and Brooks Koepka continued to use every chance he gets to troll Bryson. There were a myriad of storylines you might’ve missed, as evidenced by the great leader board we have after Day 1.

Here’s your recap in the day’s best tweets.

PGA Championship 2020: Day 1 Twitter recap

The ESPN+ cameras picked up each player arriving to the course in their masks, making this telecast different than any other major one immediately.

Time to get to work.pic.twitter.com/9F5UQoNtdC

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) August 6, 2020

Tiger Woods was out in the morning, and the scene as he teed of in pursuit of his 16th major was one of the more surreal sights we can recall in golf’s return. We’re used to no fans at this point, but seeing Tiger announced to silence put the event in context.

This must be a first: Tiger Woods introduced on the tee at a major championship and … utter silence. So weird @PGAChampionship pic.twitter.com/B0oHR2y78X

— Ron Kroichick (@ronkroichick) August 6, 2020

The scene surrounding Tiger’s first tee shot.

“No fans,” they said. ?? pic.twitter.com/KbSqSmw7n0

— Daniel Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) August 6, 2020

There was nearly universal praise for the PGA Championship site as this muny gets the major spotlight for the first time in its history.

Love this backdrop. Lake scenery, city scenery. Harding Park has so much soul. Need more majors on public golf courses. pic.twitter.com/VmcREjRa8e

— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) August 6, 2020

Tiger had a new putter in play, and it looked good early.

New putter seems to be working for Tiger. He runs in a 40-footer for birdie at No 13 to take a share of the lead at 2 under.

— Rex Hoggard (@RexHoggardGC) August 6, 2020

There were a lot of positives early on for the 15-time major champion.

Tiger just made a putt from 32 feet at the 13th to tie for the lead. It’s only the 2nd putt that he’s made this year over 25 feet.

Incredible pitch at one led to birdie. Hit draw off the tee 12, cut off the tee at 13. Working it both ways. Ball speed close to 180 mph.

— Brandel Chamblee (@chambleebrandel) August 6, 2020

But Tiger wasn’t the only one playing well early on Day 1. Conditions were benign in the morning so scoring was up.

Damn, everyone and their grandmother under par right now. These are the easiest scoring conditions we’ve seen all week. Warmer, drier, no wind. If it gets nasty this afternoon, the guys teeing it up later will be fighting an uphill battle.

— Daniel Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) August 6, 2020

The leader board after the morning was stacked, and a couple of possibly unexpected multiple-time major champions got off to hot starts.

Imagine telling yourself in January that Martin Kaymer and Zach Johnson would co-lead an August PGA Championship with nobody in attendance.

— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) August 6, 2020

A couple of multi-major winners are atop the PGA Championships leaderboard. I’m going to guess not the two you were thinking of, but alas, this is where we’re at.

— Shane Bacon (@shanebacon) August 6, 2020

Zach Johnson’s hot start led to this playful tweet in reference to ZJ’s comments after the final round of the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock.

The golf course was on the edge, and now we’ve lost it. It’s gone. pic.twitter.com/5NpVa6DVMV

— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) August 6, 2020

Teaching pro Zach J. Johnson, an assistant pro at Davis Park Golf Course, is also in the field as one of the 20 club professionals. He didn’t have quite the same success as his namesake, finishing with a 12-over 82, good for last place as ZJ played his way to the top of the board.

Zach Johnson is leading and in last place at the PGA at the same time ??‍??‍

— Paulie (@friedeggpaulie) August 6, 2020

Zach Johnson lost a shot coming in to finish at 4-under, giving the lead to 2015 PGA champ Jason Day. Day entered the week with three straight top 10s, riding some serious momentum.

A bogey-free 65 on Thursday has @JDayGolf tied for the lead at the #PGAChamp … pic.twitter.com/HzfN8dwec1

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 6, 2020

Tiger wrapped up a two-under 68, which was his lowest opening round in a major in a longggg time.

6⃣8⃣ – Tiger Wood’s lowest opening round score in a major championship since 2012.#PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/NCP23quwj6

— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) August 6, 2020

Brooks Koepka started his defense of his PGA Championship title, and his pursuit of a three-peat, with a stellar four-under 68. It’s pretty much what we’ve come to expect from the four-time major champ.

Koepka’s position on the leaderboard after his last eight PGA Championship rounds.

3
1
1
1
1
1
1
2 (currently)

— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) August 6, 2020

Koepka’s post-round press conference, though it was virtual, did not disappoint.

Brooks switched from a Callaway driver to a TaylorMade for this week. He was asked about it in the presser.

“They don’t pay me, so I’m not mentioning their name.” pic.twitter.com/80gwoDh7gL

— Daniel Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) August 6, 2020

Though this stat is only based on the driving distance of two holes, Tiger was shaping his drives with ease, proving his long game is feeling good. He had a few errant drives but recovered from them nicely.

Tiger leads the field in driving distance. So much for the cool weather being a problem for his back.

— Brandel Chamblee (@chambleebrandel) August 6, 2020

On the opposite end of things was Jordan Spieth, who struggled to a three-over 73, as he continues to search for his first win since the Open at Birkdale. And there was this scene, juxtaposed with Augusta National at the height of Spieth’s game, which was quite striking.

Tiger leads the field in driving distance. So much for the cool weather being a problem for his back.

— Brandel Chamblee (@chambleebrandel) August 6, 2020

Though some were disappointed with ESPN’s lack of showing golf shots early on in their coverage, the network made up for it all day long. Of course, you had to be an ESPN+ subscriber to watch the action, but for those who had access, they were treated to a full day of golf.

Well this will easily be the most shots I’ve ever seen in one day of watching golf. Not perfect (and never will be), but overall, ridiculously good coverage of that opening wave.

— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) August 6, 2020

Bryson ended up breaking his driver after smashing it at the reachable par-4 seventh hole, then leaning on the shaft too hard. And the golf world collectively lost its mind. (We also captured the best reactions here.)

It comforts me to know that Bryson will never, for the rest of his career, play a normal round of golf.

— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) August 6, 2020

The guy actually snapped his driver. Amazing…

“Hey Rickie, did you see that? How funny was it when my driver broke? Pretty cool, huh?” pic.twitter.com/IvqviftPCy

— Eric Patterson (@EPatGolf) August 6, 2020

As he does, tour pro Eddie Pepperell puts things in proper context.

Bryson IS the story in golf now. He’s like when The Great Khali joined the WWE. One of a kind. Not quite got the chin, but a freak of nature nonetheless.

— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) August 6, 2020

Though Bryson was near the top of the leaderboard for most of his round, he dropped a couple shots on his inward nine, finishing up at two-under 68. But it looked for a while like Bryson would be approaching Koepka’s place near the top.

Brooks watching Bryson climb the leaderboard pic.twitter.com/pHGadIzbgD

— Joel Beall (@JoelMBeall) August 6, 2020

J.T. Poston won the 2019 Wyndham Championship, a title he’ll defend next week. He also had his best round in a major on Thursday.

All smiles after a 67 in those conditions! ? pic.twitter.com/0XpGTkVJdK

— J.T. Poston (@JT_ThePostman) August 7, 2020

We saw Adam Scott play for the first time since the Players, and people didn’t know what to expect from his game (oddsmakers made him 70-1). Of course the Aussie rolled out and is in red numbers in his first competitive round in five-plus months.

Adam Scott putting surf season temporarily on hold to casually drop in with a 68 in Round 1 of a major that’s his first tournament in six months (and that everyone else has been grinding to prepare for) is extremely on brand.

— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) August 7, 2020

The round of the afternoon wave belonged to Brendon Todd, who continues his heater.

This time last year Brendon Todd was 795th in the world. He’s won two tournaments and led two others after 54 holes since, and now co-leads the PGA Championship.

— Joel Beall (@JoelMBeall) August 7, 2020

Can’t be stressed enough. A year & a half ago Brendon Todd was trying to qualify for the freaking Korn Ferry Tour. This season he has 2 wins + has put himself in contention in half of his starts since the return (including a WGC last week) & is tied for the lead @PGAChampionship

— Amanda Balionis (@Amanda_Balionis) August 7, 2020

After 54 weeks without major golf, the below is a great problem to have. Like we said, we indulged in it all. And it was great to have golf back on the main stage.

I’m not conditioned for 12 hours of golf coverage. Should have been training during quarantine.

— Andy Johnson ? (@the_woke_yolk) August 7, 2020

The post Day 1 at TPC Harding Park summed up in 27 tweets appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
The entertainment factor has been quite high during the PGA Tour restart, and even without Tiger Woods in the field, that remained true at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Anytime a duo like Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka are going shot for shot on Sunday, it’s must-see TV.

Unfortunately, for Koepka bettors, the golf gods were extremely kind to Thomas, who took advantage and claimed his 13th career PGA Tour victory in Memphis, making a bit of history in the process.

Here are our five takeaways from Sunday at TPC Southwind.

RELATED: Ranking the top 100 golfers competing at TPC Harding Park

Justin Thomas got away with one
CBS’ Dottie Pepper had the perfect line after Thomas went birdie-birdie at Nos. 15 and 16 despite hitting both his drives off the planet: “He just robbed the bank twice.” Damn straight, Dottie.

It was glaringly obvious Thomas did not have his best stuff on the back nine, but the mark of a true champion is winning with your C+ game, something Tiger did a few times in his day. That’s exactly what Thomas had on the way in, his C+ game, at least off the tee where it was wayward drive after wayward drive. But a few good breaks put him in position to still make birdies, and he capitalized. Those two birdies ended up being the difference. A win is a win is a win is a win … is what Thomas should say to himself in the mirror tonight.

The victory means Thomas has a baker’s dozen on tour, which makes him the third-youngest to reach that mark. The other two guys? Tiger and Jack Nicklaus. Decent company, some would say. Thomas did it with Jim (Bones) Mackay on the bag, in front of Bones’ former boss Phil Mickelson. The duo will be together next week, too, at the PGA Championship. If Thomas adds a second Wanamaker Trophy with Bones carrying at TPC Harding Park, it’s going to be very difficult to break those two up. Hopefully Thomas’ full-time caddie Jimmy Johnson is feeling OK and gets back to full health, or else he might get himself Wally Pipp’d if he’s not careful.

Brutal finish for Brooks, but it could be for the best
More importantly, brutal finish for me, who had a potential $800 payout on a Brooks win. Why do bad things happen to good people?

Anyway, should we be concerned with the way Koepka finished? Hard to say. People forget how awful he was late on Sunday at Bethpage, though he did flip the switch when he needed. He hit a great third shot on 16 at TPC Southwind on Sunday, one that drops for eagle if it’s a hair to the left (SPOILER: it wasn’t). Instead, he walks off with 6. Then at 17, a hole that gave guys fits all day, Koepka drops an absolute bomb, must-make birdie putt from just inside 40 feet. At 18, he just got a little aggressive with the line off the tee (he was trailing by one, so it was the right play) and rinsed his drive. It happens. By no means did he choke. He was three back entering the final round and gave it a great run. You need a little luck from the golf gods, too, and Thomas seemed to hog it all on the back nine.

To be honest, it might be a good thing. A Koepka win this week would have ramped up the hype machine to 11 entering Harding Park, where he’s going for the PGA three-peat. That said, with limited media members and no fans, it wouldn’t have been as big of a circus as it normally would. He is by no means flying under the radar, but not winning allows him to truly unleash major-week Brooksy in San Francisco.

Chin up, Brendon Todd

Stacy Revere

That was another ugly Sunday for Todd, who similarly stumbled with a chance to win at the Travelers Championship last month. But it shouldn’t sour what was an otherwise strong week for the three-time tour winner. He hasn’t had enough of these close calls/Sunday stumbles yet to break out the “is he choking under pressure?” takes. But the way he’s playing, he might get enough chances for that take to be warranted.

Look, it’s a big ask for any player to close out a WGC against the likes of Thomas and Koepka, but especially so for a journeyman who is just beginning to seriously contend on a regular basis like he has this year. If this hot streak has staying power, Todd will have plenty more cracks in big events, and he’ll eventually pick one-off. This guy has been through hell and back, a couple of poor final rounds aren’t going to send him into a tailspin. He’ll be fine.

RELATED: The clubs Justin Thomas used to win the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational

Imagine not betting Daniel Berger at TPC Southwind?

Stacy Revere

No, he didn’t win, but you could have made a fortune just betting Berger top five, top 10, top 20, in matchups, etc., this week. Those who didn’t, myself included, must be kicking themselves. He’s now played TPC Southwind in competition four times, won twice, finished runner-up once (with a weird MC in there, too). He is TPC Southwind’s daddy. It’s like Tiger at Torrey, Bubba at Riviera and TPC River Highlands, Phil at Pebble, Boo Weekley at Harbour Town, Matt Every at Bay Hill. OK, OK, too far, but you get the point. “Horse for the course” absolutely applies here, and I’ll make sure that I’ll never forget that. I will be betting my mortgage on Berger in the 2021 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in every way imaginable. You’re spitting in the face of money if not.

Look who is peaking at just the right time …

Stacy Revere

Yes, obviously Thomas and Koepka, both former PGA winners, are in top form just in time for TPC Harding Park. But another former PGA Championship winner crept up on everybody on Sunday in Memphis. We’re talking about Jason Day, folks.

The Aussie, who won the PGA at Whistling Straits in 2015, finished with a three-under 67 at TPC Southwind to finish T-6, locking up his third consecutive finish inside the top seven. He’s quietly playing some of his best golf since the early part of 2018, when he won at Torrey Pines in January and again at Quail Hollow in May. A big part of it is the improvement in his iron play, which was noticeably poor early in the restart, when he missed three of four cuts. But during this strong three-week stretch he’s gained on approach in all three events. All this despite recently splitting up with his swing coach of 20 years, Colin Swatton.

As of right now, Day is 40-1 to win the PGA on DraftKings, a number you couldn’t dream of getting on him two years ago, or five years ago at his peak. Prior to this week, he was 45-1, so it’s already dropping. Hard to call a former World No. 1 major winner a “sneaky” pick, but at that number, you better hop on him while you can.

The post Justin Thomas plays with fire, a brutal finish for Brooks, a sneaky PGA pick and two other Sunday takeaways appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Ten months ago Brendon Todd didn’t have tour status. He’s a round away from becoming the Player of the Year favourite.

Todd survived a four-bogey day thanks to five red figures, turning in a one-under 69 for a one-shot lead into the final round of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

“I’m excited to be in this position and feel like if I can go out there and swing a little better and keep this putting momentum going, I’ll be in good shape,” Todd said.

That Todd remains up top is a testament to his short game. Already one of the shorter hitters on tour—he ranks 209th out of 216 qualified players in distance this season—the 35-year-old was struggling with his driver Saturday, finding the short stuff just half the time en route to a negative -0.613 strokes gained/off-the-tee mark. The approach performance (-.763 strokes gained) wasn’t much better.

“Today was a little more difficult, cooler, a little more moisture out there,” Todd said. “The winds were still up and swirling a little bit, so I thought the golf course still yielded great scores. But for me, made it a little more difficult and I was battling my swing a little bit.”

Yet Todd gained nearly two-and-half strokes on the field with the flat stick on Saturday, converting four birdies from outside 12 feet. On the week he’s up more than nine strokes on the greens over his competition.

“I put in some work with my mental coach on the greens earlier in the week and we just focused on—if I focus on fundamentals, good things will happen,” Todd said. “So for me that means staying steady over the ball, staying down on my putts and having good speed. So those are really the keys to putting and it’s been working really well for me this week.”

It is the fourth time this season Todd will enter Sunday with the lead, converting two of those leads into wins at the Bermuda Championship and Mayakoba Golf Classic last fall. To do so, he’ll have to hold off the likes of Ben An, Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas. Of course, this is a man who battled the yips and contemplated quitting the game. He does not scare easy.

“I think we all, the best players in the world treat each final round like it’s just another day and they just go out there and try to execute and stick to their game and let the results fall as they do,” Todd said.

Brooks’ bounce back
The finger appeared to be on the eject button. Brooks Koepka started Saturday with a double at the second and added a bogey at the sixth. Given Koepka was coming off a rough Friday showing, it appeared whatever momentum conjured off of Thursday’s 62 was shot.

The lesson, as always: Never doubt Brooks Koepka.

Koepka caught fire Saturday afternoon, logging six birdies in an eight-hole stretch. He stumbled at the 17th but still finished with a 68—37 on the front, 31 on the back— putting him three back of Todd.

Despite the parade of birdies it was a par that saved Koepka’s tournament. Koepka’s drive on the 13th went into the native area, with his provisional rolling up against a fence. Koepka was able to find his first shot, which was plugged in the heather, thus bestowing a free drop. From there, Koepka muscled out his approach on the dance floor, saving 4.

In one sense, winning doesn’t necessarily matter for Koepka on Sunday. He is a man judged on four tournaments, and four tournaments alone. Conversely, he’s 30 spots outside the playoffs with 15 days left in the regular season and was coming off a brutal three-tournament stretch (CUT, T-62, CUT). Recapturing that swagger days before his pursuit of a third straight Wanamker Trophy begins is something Koepka, whether he’ll admit it or not, needed to happen. And a development that spells trouble for his competition.

Phil shakes off cobwebs
It has been tough sledding for Phil Mickelson. In six starts since finishing T-3 at Pebble Beach in February, Mickelson has not logged a top 20 and missed the cut three times. The strokes gained metrics aren’t kind, either: 155th in approach, 148th in putting, 115th total. Coupled with his 50th birthday this summer, it was fair to wonder how much gas was left in Lefty’s tank.

Plenty, it turns out. Mickelson, beginning his day eight shots back in a tie for 15th, reached as high as third place on Saturday before a taking a par at the par-5 16th and bogey at the 17th. Still, for a guy in desperate need of, well, something, Saturday’s 66 was a shot of life.

“I hit a lot of good shots, made a lot of good putts and played really well,” Mickelson said. “I let it—you can always look back and you feel like you let a couple go. I wish I would have finished the round off a little better. I wish I had birdied 16 and not bogeyed 17. Those two shots coming down, you’ve really got to close the round out a little better than I did today. But I hit a lot of good shots in the heart of the round, made seven birdies and really had a good day.”

Helping matters are Memphis’ friendly confines. Mickelson owns four top-10 finishes at the St. Jude Classic, and earlier in the week called TPC Southwind one of the more underrated tracks on tour. He’ll need that home cookin’ on Sunday.

“I’m going to have to shoot something really low, probably 63, 64 to have a realistic chance,” Mickelson said. “It’s certainly out there, I’ve shot it before.”

More importantly, it gives Mickelson—never a man short on confidence—conviction in his game heading into the PGA Championship.

Thomas provides update on caddie
Justin Thomas has Jim (Bones) Mackay on this bag for the next two weeks as his regular loop, Jimmy Johnson, is taking time off for his health. Johnson got overheated at the Memorial a few weeks back and felt his body wasn’t up for the task of Memphis and San Francisco. Following his third round, Thomas said Johnson recently underwent a stress test.

“The big thing is he’s fine when he’s inside and not in the severe heat like that,” Thomas said. “The big thing is we’re just trying to figure out what it is or if there’s something in particular, whether it’s some medicine he takes. More often than not it’s not something crazy major. It’s just like I told him and I think that he’s figuring out, it’s a lot bigger than caddying. It’s about his health. I love Jimmy to death, he’s part of the family and I want him over anybody else in the world on my bag for the rest of my careee. But if it means his health, then that’s what it is. So that’s what he’s trying to fix so that he can get himself better first and foremost, and then caddying is just a bonus.”

Thomas said they have ruled out coronavirus, and that Johnson has further tests, scans and X-rays scheduled.

“I told him I’ll be as helpful or as involved or uninvolved as he wants me to be,” Thomas said. “You know, whether he’s here this week or not, he’s still on the team and I’m still a part of his team as well. So I’m going to do and everybody else on my team is going to do what we can to help, but glad he’s home resting right now.”

Thomas shot a four-under 66 on Saturday. The FedEx Cup points leader will enter Sunday four back of Todd and will be looking for his third win and ninth top 10 in 14 starts this year.

The post Todd 18 holes away from three-win season, Koepka bounces back and JT provides update on caddie’s health appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
CROMWELL, Conn.—Golf is a beautiful question because it allows for multiple equations to produce the same answer. On Saturday at TPC River Highlands, that answer was 61. The formulas were Brendon Todd and Dustin Johnson.

Our apologies for reducing players to precepts. Yet the only commonality between these two figures is that they’ll be playing in the final group at the Travelers Championship.

“We’re both kind of peaking this week at the same time,” Todd said. “Hopefully [tomorrow] we can both go low.”

Let’s start the comparison with what transpired in the present. Beginning his round six back of 36-hole leader Phil Mickelson, Johnson climbed the scoreboard thanks to eight 3s in a nine-hole stretch. He did it the way Johnson usually assaults courses, his prodigious distance bestowing short irons approaches, and letting the short game take care of itself. His lone mistake was a three-jack on the par-5 sixth after reaching the green in two.

That is, if one can make a mistake en route to a bogey-free 61, the lowest score in Johnson’s career.

“I hit a lot of nice putts that hit the hole from that eight- to 10-foot range, probably had four, five or six of them that I probably should have made,” Johnson said. ”I made some nice putts, too. I’m very happy with the way I played. I gave myself a lot of looks.”

Then there is Todd, whose Toddaissance was the storyline of the fall series. Todd is not a bruiser with the big stick. Anything but: Entering the week, he ranked 222nd out of 226 players on tour in driving distance. He compensates this lack of power with precision, an accuracy on display this week by missing just one fairway through 54 holes. The iron game has been stout [5.439 strokes gained in approach] and the putting solid [2.431 strokes gained on the greens]. He had a shot at 60, but his birdie attempt from 10 feet slid by on the final hole.

Still, the performance translated to a two-shot lead heading into Sunday.

“It seems like since the fall, whenever I get a two- or three-week stretch in a row, I tend to be playing better by the end of it,” Todd said. “That’s just something I’m using to my advantage now after missing two cuts; I’m peaking in the third week and hopefully I can get it done tomorrow.”

Only five players are within five shots of Todd. Kevin Streelman will start Round 4 three back of Todd’s 18-under score, followed by Mackenzie Hughes [four] and Bryson DeChambeau and Kevin Na [five]. But the spotlight will be on Todd and Johnson, which will be a treat in contrasting characteristics.

Rob Carr
Brendon Todd hits from the 15th tee in third round of Travelers Championship.

Johnson’s strategy is blunt-force trauma; Todd is surgical. Johnson is golf’s version of Dirty Harry, a synergy of dispassion and swagger. Todd has the strut of an accountant.Johnson’s been one of the more consistent performers the tour has seen in the past 40 years, while Todd’s battle with the swing yips nearly forced him to quit.

However, it is Todd with two victories to go along with a T-4 this season and Johnson who has been in the wilderness—his last top-five finish coming at the 2019 PGA Championship. And though Johnson is an intimidating presence, Todd is not short on temerity.

“It’s hard to miss the leader boards obviously, so [Johnson’s] name was up there from a pretty early point,” Todd said. “I just use it as motivation to go out there and make some more birdies.

For what it’s worth, Todd is looking forward to playing with DJ. They haven’t played together since the final round of the 2012 Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where Johnson finished T-5 to Todd’s T-9. “He’s easy to play with, nice guy, doesn’t show too much emotion out there,” Todd said, qualifying for the understatement of the month. “So I think we’re going to have a really good time and probably a really good battle.”

There will be a question asked by River Highlands on Sunday, along with the question each will pose to the other. “My job is going to be to go out there and get off to a good start, and just try to make as many birdies as I can and see if I can’t shoot another good round,” Todd said. Added Johnson: “I feel like I’m rolling the putter well, so I just need to get myself in a position where I’ve got a chance to make a putt.”

How they answer should be fascinating.

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